| Agapanthoideae | |
|---|---|
| Agapanthus africanus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| clade: | Angiosperms |
| clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Amaryllidaceae |
| Subfamily: | Agapanthoideae |
| Genera | |
|
Agapanthus L'Hér. |
|
| Distribution | |
Agapanthoideae is a monocot subfamily of flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, order Asparagales. It was formerly treated as a separate family, Agapanthaceae.[1] The subfamily name is derived from the generic name of the sole included type genus, Agapanthus. Previously the genus Agapanthus has also been included in the Alliaceae (e.g. in the Dahlgren system) or the Liliaceae (e.g. in the Cronquist system, which unlike most classification systems included both Alliaceae and Amaryllidaceae in a broadly defined Liliaceae).
Agapanthus shares characters with other genera included in the modern Amaryllidaceae, but lacks the compounds that give alliaceous plants (subfamily Allioideae) their characteristic onion or garlic odor, and has superior ovaries, unlike the usually inferior ovaries of subfamily Amaryllidoideae.